From Rick Joslin, Executive Director of Training at HDI, comes an announcement about a new certification for KCS – Knowledge Centered Support…

HDI announced today a new certification related to the Knowledge-Centered Support methodology. I want to make sure you saw this press release as well as arm you with some answers to potential questions. The press release is attached. This email is lengthy and provides a wealth of information.

Background

In 2003, HDI made the strategic decision to partner with the Consortium for Service Innovation (CSI) to promote the KCS methodology to the support industry and to provide training on it. This led to the introduction of the Knowledge Management Foundations: KCS Principles course in 2004. In 2007, HDI led an effort to define the first certification standard related to KCS and released the Knowledge-Centered Support Principles certification in 2008. The methodology continues to evolve under the care of CSI, and HDI continues to promote the methodology at our events, through webinars and speaking opportunities, by publishing articles and customer stories, and through our certification and training offerings. Knowledge management is a core process within Service Management. It is introduced and discussed at some level in all of our Support Center and Desktop Support certification courses, thus promoting KCS to thousands of technical support professionals each year. HDI has trained professionals from over 600 companies on the Knowledge Management Foundations: KCS Principles 3-day certification course. In 2009, HDI introduced the Knowledge-Centered Support Fundamentals one-day course in both public classroom and virtual classroom format.

Our Ongoing Commitment

HDI remains committed to promoting Knowledge-Centered Support as the set of knowledge management best practices within service management. Each year we invest to enhance our educational offerings and to keep them current with the KCS Practices Guide published by CSI. HDI is also a member of the Consortium, continuing our investment to stay current as well as to share our experiences and knowledge in order to enhance KCS. We continue to find new ways to promote KCS and help organizations with their adoption. Over the past year, HDI has been working with the KCS Academy to earn the KCS Aligned designation. Based on their review and feedback we have made adjustments to our courseware content to enhance the alignment with the KCS Practices Guide. We have recently been informed that we earned the KCS Aligned v5.3 designation for the Knowledge Management Foundations: KCS Principles course. Our development and marketing teams will be making final adjustments to announce this accomplishment in the near future.

Why a new certification?

This certification is a result of customer requests. The Knowledge-Centered Support Fundamentals course focuses on what is KCS and why an organization needs it. Some organizations have been using it to educate their teams about KCS as a part of their adoption process. This is similar to why so many organizations require everyone in IT to be certified in ITIL Foundations. It creates a common fundamental knowledge about the best practices throughout the organization as a foundation on which the organization can then make changes based on these best practices. Certification is a means by which the organization can both promote the need for individuals to understand the best practices as well as a means to assess that they comprehend them. This is one of the reasons why ITIL Foundation certification is so popular. However a comparable certification has not existed for KCS. Customers of the Knowledge-Centered Support Fundamentals have requested a certification offering to satisfy this need. In response, HDI has released this new certification.

About the Certification Exam

This certification exam is delivered through the HDI Learning Center, as are all HDI certification exams. However the exam is configured differently. Since this certification is positioned as similar to ITIL Foundation in purpose, the exam configuration has been modified to be somewhat similar. The ITIL Foundation exam is 40 questions in 60 minutes with a passing score of 65%. The Knowledge-Centered Support Fundamentals certification exam consists of 30 questions and must be completed in 35 minutes. The passing score requirement is 70%. The exams are randomly generated from a pool of over 100 exam questions. The cost of the certification exam is $145 USD.

The Knowledge-Centered Support Fundamentals scope is a subset of the Knowledge-Centered Support Principles. Therefore it should not and is not positioned as a prerequisite certification. The Knowledge-Centered Support Fundamentals course is designed to provide everyone in the support organization with an awareness of KCS and the value of it. The Knowledge Management Foundations: KCS Principles course is for those who will be participating in leading a KCS initiative, be a member of an adoption team, or need a deeper understanding of the methodology, the practices, and how to implement KCS.

KCS and ITIL

ITIL is the dominate framework for service management best practices. Over 1.8 million people have been certified in ITIL Foundations since 2007. 236,125 earned ITIL Foundation certification in 2012. Only a small portion of those people earn the higher level ITIL certifications.

KCS is more than just complimentary or synergistic with ITIL. For those that have a working knowledge of both, they are likely to position KCS as helping to complete ITIL. The number of organizations that have adopted service management processes based on ITIL is huge. Thus the market need for KCS is huge. I believe the challenge is awareness of KCS. We need to expand the promotion of KCS and look for new ways to educate the market of both its presents and its value.

We need to promote the message that the Knowledge-Centered Support Fundamentals certification is to KCS, what ITIL Foundation certification is to ITIL.

The Promotion

HDI is offering a special promotion through the end of 2013 to help increase awareness. Individuals who purchase the certification exam for $145 with the promotion code will receive a free Knowledge-Centered Support Fundamentals self-paced online course. Those who purchase the Knowledge-Centered Support Fundamentals course in any format will receive a free certification exam. Anyone who has already taken the course since it was introduced in 2009 can purchase the certification exam for $50. HDI has offered a special landing page where individuals can get the promotion code as well as download some valuable research and content. To learn more visit www.thinkHDI.com/KCSF13

In 2014, we will end the special promotion and adjust the prices for Knowledge-Centered Support Fundamentals courses as the certification exam will be bundled with each course.

How will this strategy help?

Our goal is drive early and broad adoption. As more professional become aware of KCS, I expect to see a higher interest in adoption and therefore demand for theKnowledge Management Foundations: KCS Principles training. Individuals who earn certification tend to tell others, including promoting their accomplishments on their resumes. Though this new certification offering we will expand awareness of KCS in the support industry.